Russ Steele
I was reading about the dropping Pacific ocean temperatures and started to wonder, could it be caused by the lack of sun spots, resulting in more cosmic rays, thus more low clouds over the northern and southern oceans. The Southern Hemisphere had record setting cold weather this year. Sunspot tracking here. Now this from the Gold Stream Gazette: Despite fears of global warming, the north Pacific has suddenly turned a lot colder. . . The ocean cooling in this part of the world isn’t the result of an El Nino, said ocean scientist Howard Freeland, who added he is “baffled” by what’s happening. He and fellow scientists don’t know what’s caused a huge chunk of the Gulf of Alaska to drop three degrees Centigrade colder than average for this time of year -- a huge change of six degrees Celcius [sic]just two years after a lengthy period of warmer than usual waters.
(Please ignore the obligatory “the earth is warming” comments by the Professor who needs to protect his research funding.)
Historically, the longer the sunspot cycle the cooler the weather patterns on earth. The Dalton Minimum was one such period. The current sunspot cycle is stretching out. See the graphic below. It will be mid 2008 before the next cycle starts. This will produce a 12.5+ year cycle, when the average is a little less than 11 years. It could be a 13 year cycle, we just do not know. But we do know that the longer the cycle the cooler the weather in our back yards. But, rather than concerning our selves with sunspot cycles, we are worried about the rising levels of CO2. Historically the lack of sunspot and cold oceans, bring cold dry weather to California. Think about the consequences of retuning to the weather to the early 1800s when crops failed, and Native American's took winter shelter in the warmer adobe buildings built by the Spanish. I am and so should you! The Dalton Minimum could be returning, and little more CO2 could keep us just a little warmer. 
Click for a larger image.
